The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Jackson expecting Osweiler to compete
Quarterback will be able to join Kessler, Hogan in Browns workouts April 17
Contrary to reports that have circulated since he was acquired from the Houston Texans earlier this month, the Browns might give Brock Osweiler a chance to help their dismal quarterback situation.
“Obviously, he’s a player on our team and we’re going to treat him just like we do all of our other quarterbacks until he’s not,” Coach Hue Jackson told Steve Wyche of NFL Network during taping of “Path to the Draft,” a show set to air March 27. “He’s a guy that’s going to come in and compete.
“We haven’t had an opportunity to meet with him from a football standpoint because of the rules. But once we start our offseason program, Phase One, we’ll get a chance to know him and he’ll get to know us.”
Offseason programs for teams with returning head coaches begin on April 17. The three-day draft begins 10 days later on April 27.
The Browns made the most stunning move on the first day of the new league year on March 9 when they traded a fourthround pick to the Texans for Osweiler plus a sixthround pick this year and a second-round pick in 2018.
Even the Browns admitted getting the second-round pick was the key to the deal. The Texans felt unloading Osweiler’s 2017 guaranteed $16 million salary was worth giving up a second-round draft choice.
As the shockwaves of the Osweiler trade settled, reports the Browns would cut him if they could not trade him surfaced quickly. That still might happen. But for now Osweiler, Cody Kessler and Kevin Hogan are the quarterbacks on the roster. Earlier this offseason the Browns cut Josh McCown and Robert Griffin III. McCown has since signed a one-year with the New York Jets for $6 million.
Osweiler was 5-2 as starter with the Broncos in 2015. The Texans, greedy for a quarterback last year to help them win the AFC South, signed Osweiler to a four-year, $72 million contract. He was 8-6 with the Texans while throwing 15 touchdown passes and 16 interceptions. He completed 59 percent of his passes (301 of 510) for 2,957 yards. The Texans did not view him as their quarterback of the future.
McCown, Griffin, Kessler, Hogan, and Charlie Whitehurst combined to throw 15 touchdowns for the Browns last season.
Holding onto Osweiler, at least for now, does not preclude the Browns from drafting a quarterback or signing another one in free agency. The Browns pick
first and 12th in the first round and have the first pick in the second round — pick 33 overall. They could use any of those choices or a later one on a quarterback.
“I think you’re always looking to improve that (quarterback) room because I think we all know that that’s the driver of your football team,” Jackson told Wyche. “I think we’ll continue to look for ways to improve the room as much as we can. But I just think, as we go through it, we’ll continue to coach the guys that are here and give them the best opportunity and continue to find ways to get better.”
Osweiler was a secondround draft pick by the Broncos in 2012. He completed 17 of 30 passes while playing in 13 games without a start over his first three years.
Osweiler’s future with the Browns could be a short one if they do use an early pick on a quarterback. Before Osweiler was acquired, Jackson said almost the exact thing about Griffin he is saying now about Osweiler.
“Obviously Robert’s on our roster right now,” Jackson said on March 2 at the NFL Scouting Combine. “I think there are some things that he did well (with the Browns in 2016), some things he needs to continue to improve at and we’re going to keep working with him until we don’t.
“He’s one of the three quarterbacks on our football team right now and I’m very fortunate we do have some guys under contract right now to work with, but we’ve got to continue to get him better as he moves forward.”
Griffin was cut on March 10 — one day after the Osweiler trade and one day before he was due a $750,000 roster bonus. Griffin was 1-4 as a starter last year.